Along with the recent developments in China, an increasing number of people want to learn Chinese characters or already use them. Unlike Hangul (Korean characters) or English alphabets which have a relatively simple character system and have a less number of characters, Chinese character (“Hanzi”) is the ideogram that includes a hieroglyph and has tens of thousands of characters. Therefore, it is impossible to input Chinese character directly by using a limited number of keyboards of an electronic device such as a computer, a mobile phone, and so on, and it is thus extremely difficult to input Chinese character using the electronic device.
For a conventional method of inputting Chinese character, generally, pinyin input method (“pinyin”) and Wubizixing input method (“Wubi”) (i.e., five stroke character model input method) are most widely used.
First, the pinyin input method is a method of inputting a pronunciation of a Chinese character with Roman keyboard and listing candidates of characters with the same pronunciation and selecting a character desired to input from among them. However, this method has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to input correct corresponding Chinese character when the user does not know the correct pronunciation, regardless of whether he/she knows the form of the Chinese character. Also, when there are too many Chinese characters having the same pronunciation, there is a disadvantage in that it is difficult to input Chinese character quickly because it is necessary to select a character to input from among a large number of Chinese character groups having the same pronunciation in order to input one character.
Second, the Wubi input method is a method of constructing a Chinese character using a keyboard having an arrangement of strokes and radicals of Chinese character and inputting the resultant Chinese character. To use the Wubi input method, it is necessary to memorize the symbols and arrangement of keys on the keyboard, and also know the order of strokes and have skills to input the Wubi.
The Wubi input method has an advantage that it is possible to input Chinese character faster than pinyin input method for those who are accustomed to it. However, it also has a disadvantage that it is relatively more difficult to learn than pinyin input method. This is because some Chinese characters are so difficult to input intuitively that it is necessary to use the Wubi dictionary. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that a long time training is required to input Chinese character with the Wubi input method.
As a result, a new Chinese character input apparatus is required, which is capable of inputting a Chinese character faster than pinyin input method, and which is easier to input and is more intuitive than Wubi input method.